1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to disposable blade holders.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Precision ground, single edge disposable blades have long been used for surgical preparation and similar applications. In some instances, such single edge blades have been provided with a band, i.e., a bent metal strip, over the unsharpened edge to facilitate use. In other instances, the unsharpened edge has been unbanded. Also, some of such blades have notched ends while others have been sold and used with unnotched ends.
A relatively recent development is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,830 relating to the employment of precision ground, single edge, unbanded, notched end type disposable blades in laboratory microtomes for the precision cutting of tissue sections. Such blades are typically made of a very fine grade of steel and are adapted to receive an extremely sharp cutting edge. After repeated use in microtome cutting operations, the cutting edge eventually develops minor flaws and at this point the blade must be replaced. However, a used blade of this type still has a relatively high cutting capability with a sharpness entirely adequate for a variety of manual cutting operations, e.g., the trimming of gross tissue into small blocks for further processing in histology laboratories.
Due to the unavailability of a satisfactory blade holder to permit further utilization of these high grade, relatively expensive blades, they have usually been discarded when no longer suitable for use in the microtome cutting. This, of course, has been a wasteful practice.
Representative examples of prior art disposable blade holders are to be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,865,539; 1,998,428; 2,232,008 and 3,227,020. However, insofar as we are aware, there has never been made available a satisfactory blade holder adapted for use with a disposable, precision ground, single edge, unbanded, notched end type. More specifically, there is no known practical blade holder for holding this type of disposable blade in a proper cutting angle for conducting manual cutting operations in histology procedures, and the like, as well as being useful for other day-to-day cutting, scraping, cleaning operations, and the like, as might be encountered in the household, for example.
Thus, the object of the present invention is to provide a versatile, disposable blade holder, particularly adapted for comfortably holding at a proper angle one end of a disposable, precision ground, single edge, unbanded, notched end type blade.